Tag Archives: music now & then

Bernhoft and Kimbra Demonstrate the Art of the Live Loop

Fans of Conan O’Brien just got introduced to soul singer and one-man band, Bernhoft.  After fronting a couple of bands between 1996 and 2005, the Norwegian released his first solo album in 2008.  His performances center around recording a series of backing loops, sometimes on multiple instruments, to sing and play guitar over.  Check out  the totally entertaining “Cmon Talk” as well as the live version of “Sunday”.

Another artist who makes use of loops, more focused on vocals, is Kimbra.  She got a lot of exposure in 2012 accompanying Gotye on his Grammy Record of the Year “Somebody That I Used To Know”, but her vocal range and stylistic range are much broader.  Check out these two numbers and hang with the idiosynchratic “Settle Down”.

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What Do Martin Taylor, Joe Pass, Fred and Ginger, and Brian Wilson Have in Common?

Artists across generations and musical styles can always be united by great songs.  And no American songs have shown longer lasting and broader appeal than those of George and Ira Gershwin.

Last week’s post on Tommy Emmanuel also featured British jazz guitar virtuoso Martin Taylor. A quick search on YouTube uncovers Taylor’s version of the Gershwin brothers’ standard “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”. If you’d like to skip over the interview, the performance starts at 3:12.

One of Taylor’s influences is the late Joe Pass, icon of the chord/melody style of jazz guitar that Martin plays.  Enjoy Pass’ version of the same song from a 1992 performance.

The song was introduced in the 1937 movie “Shall We Dance” starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. The clip below is a real treat.  It starts with Fred singing the song to Ginger in “Shall We Dance” and ends with them dancing to the song a dozen years later in their last movie together “The Barkleys of Broadway”.

A recent cover of this classic can be found on “Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin” released in 2010.

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Tommy Emmanuel – Guitar Legend from Down Under

Last week’s post Courtesy of Other Bloggers featured Scott McKeon, one of a half-dozen “Guitar Legends” featured on the blog  Proguitartricks.  Inspired by the guitar legend theme, for any of you not already familiar with him, meet Tommy Emmanuel.  The Australian acoustic guitar legend is known for his blistering speed but is capable of pretty much anything.

This somewhat grainy video has over 10 million YouTube views – see why.

Staples of his concert performances are Beatles medleys – no small task on solo acoustic guitar unless you’ve got Emmanuel’s chops.

Tommy can use his abilities in quiet and subtle ways too, as displayed in this performance of the jazz standard “The Nearness of You” with Martin Taylor. Emmanuel and Taylor have just released an album together featuring this tune.

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LIttle Brother Eli and Scott McKeon – Courtesy of Other Bloggers

“Read and Hear” is a music blog originating in Norway.  A recent post picks up on Little Brother Eli, a band built around the duo of compelling vocalist Alex Grew and bass player Josh Rigal.  They’ve just release a self-titled, three song EP along with a video for the first track, “Animal Fair”.

Take some time to visit Read and Hear, and definitely check out other performances on the Little Brother Eli website.

Proguitartricks is a French music blog dedicated to guitar lessons, loving photos of guitars, and a short list of “Guitar Legends”.  The most recent addition to the list is British blues player Scott McKeon.  A winner of Guitarist Magazine’s “Young Guitarist of the Year” in 1998, MeKeon has opened for superstar guitar slingers Derek Trucks and Gary Clarke, Jr. over the past year.

Visit his website Scott McKeon to learn about his surprisingly versatile career, and check out the acoustic blues track “So Much More” from the album “Trouble”  and the live electric jam “Coffee Cup” featuring a great group of musicians (things really get swinging about 2:00 minutes into the “Coffee Cup” video).

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A Host of Space Oddities

Apparently astronauts aboard the International Space Station are given a bit of time to relax and pursue their hobbies.  Canadian ISS Commander Chris Hadfield used some of his to create this rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, complete with appropriately modified lyrics.   In case you’re not one of the 16 million people who have already seen this – enjoy.  By the way, YouTube is home to other videos by Hadfield with interesting and amusing glimpses into life on the ISS.

The first minute of dancer Franky Manzo’s video for “MJ’s Coursing” might be the only other use of space station footage in a music video. The rest of the video is, shall we say, more earthy.

Bowie originally wrote “Space Oddity” for “Love You Till Tuesday” – a film intended to introduce the once little-known British artist.  Below is a clip with the film version of the song. At about the two minute mark this clip features girls floating in outer space some 40 years before Franky.

We’ll end with the well known version of “Space Oddity”, Bowie’s first commercial hit.  It was originally released in 1969 around the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing. Looks like “tin can” might have been a metaphor for Bowie’s recording studio.